I am just beginning the process of thinking about buying a home (no sooner than a year from now). I have been scouring the Internet for information on everything from when to buy to how mortgages work. This site and a couple others have been wonderful sources of information and I finally feel like I have something to contribute.
Marion brings up a good point about the CA state standards. It is extremely difficult for a public school teacher to teach something that is not in the standards.
The CA state standards can be found here – http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/
The class that would be the most logical place for instruction about personal finance would be the 12th grade Economics class. However, there is nothing in their standards about that – http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/hstgrade12.asp (scroll about halfway down for the econ section). The focus is on economics on a national level not a personal one.
I am about to finish my 7th year teaching in San Diego. I have in worked in several schools (including 3 years in a San Dieguito District high school) and the only thing close to a finance class was called “Business Math.” However, I don’t think it was a very rigorous course because the students who took it needed an easy math class. Granted, it may be different now.
I currently teach in a private high school and we don’t offer such a course. Neither do two other private high schools I looked at.